Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, pantiliners, and incontinence pads are designed to absorb and retain liquid and other discharges from the human body, and to prevent soiling of the body and clothing by such discharges. It is generally desirable to provide absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins which maintain contact with the body of the wearer when they are worn, and which conform as closely as possible to the body of the wearer. Such body conforming capability is believed to increase the effectiveness of the sanitary napkin by reducing the possibility that menses will travel around the perimeter of the sanitary napkin and soil the wearer's body and/or clothing.
There have been a number of recent efforts to provide sanitary napkins and other absorbent articles with improved fit characteristics. Such recent efforts are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,264 issued Aug. 21, 1990 to Osborn, U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,906 issued Apr. 16, 1991 to Osborn, U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,959 issued Mar. 30, 1993 to Buell, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/605,583 entitled "Sanitary Napkin Having Components Capable of Separation In Use" filed Oct. 29, 1990.
While the sanitary napkins disclosed in these references represent advancements in the art, the search for new and different ways of improving body contact has continued.
It is especially desirable that the sanitary napkin maintain contact with and conform to the body of the wearer under dynamic conditions (when the wearer walks, sits, etc.). For instance, when the sanitary napkin is put on, the sanitary napkin is subjected to lateral compression by the upper portions of the wearer's thighs. The forces applied by the wearer's thighs generally tend to distort the shape of the sanitary napkin, reducing the size of the target the sanitary napkin provides.
One attempt to control the effect of these compressive forces is disclosed in UK Patent Application No. 2,168,612A, published Jun. 25, 1986. The UK patent application discloses a sanitary towel with a resilient insert positioned within the core or adjacent to a face of the core that is intended to inhibit permanent distortion of the towel. The UK application teaches that the insert resists lateral deformation of the sanitary towel, but does not teach or disclose a sanitary napkin having body conforming properties.
It is also desirable to provide a sanitary napkin which conforms to the wearer's body while maintaining the comfort of the wearer. Accordingly, a desirable sanitary napkin should maintain contact with the wearer's body, yet be capable of repeated elastic deflection to allow the wearer to comfortably assume different positions and to perform different activities.
Sanitary napkins are generally fastened to the wearer's undergarments by adhesive or other means. Movement of the wearer's undergarment relative to the wearer's body can result in the sanitary napkin shifting from the desired position. It is therefore also desirable to provide a body conforming sanitary napkin with a mechanism to accommodate independent movement between the body of the wearer and the wearer's undergarments.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, which intercepts menses by conforming to the shape of the female urogenital region.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a sanitary napkin having a convexly shaped body facing surface.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a sanitary napkin having a spring for repeated elastic displacement of an absorbent core and a liquid pervious topsheet relative to a liquid impervious backsheet fastened to the wearer's undergarment.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a sanitary napkin having a non-absorbent internal spring disposed intermediate an absorbent core and a backsheet.
These and other objects of the present invention will be more readily apparent when considered in reference to the following description and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.